A MAN who last year weighed 32 stone and underwent a potentially life threatening gastro-bypass operation is preparing for a 25 mile charity walk.

Children's entertainer Andrew Simpson has lost more than ten stone since he had the operation at York Hospital in August.

Two months ago he came up with the challenge of walking the 25 miles from Leeds to York - something that would have been impossible for Andrew, 45, this time last year.

His wife Gillian suggested he raise some money along the way and managed to talk his mate, butcher Stephen Vodden, into it as well.

For a few weeks the pair have been in training by doing 14 mile walks as often as possible and reckon it will take them about eight hours to do the trek.

The pair are going from St James’s Hospital, Leeds, where Andrew entertains on the children's cancer ward, to York where he had the op to staple his stomach and plug the small intestine.

Andrew of Mulberry Place, Ryhill said: ”As I have been getting fitter I have been doing more and more exercise and got into walking and cycling which I couldn’t have done.

“I used to do the Three Peaks when I was younger and always wanted to be able to do things like that again.

‘Now I am hoping to do all three again. I feel like I am in my 20s. The operation is not an easy option it does cause a lot of problems but it has opened up opportunities and I feel like I am getting my life back on track.”